Ban to enter Belarus may result in ban to enter Russia

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that bans from entering Russia which are imposed on foreign nationals as a result of a decision to deny them entry to Belarus have become more frequent.

Key points

In accordance with Agreement between Russia and Belarus dated March 3rd 2017 a denial of entry to Belarus is acknowledged as a ground for denying entry to Russia and vice versa. Border control authorities of the two countries exchange data on nationals of third countries, who were banned from entering their territory.

A denial of entry to Belarus may be imposed on the grounds provided by the Belarusian legislation, including violation of rules of entering and staying in Belarus.

As of today, violation of rules of the 5-day visa-free regime that was introduced in January 2017 for nationals of 80 countries became a frequent ground for denial of entry to Belarus.

We would like to remind you that the mentioned visa-free regime applies to foreign nationals entering and exiting Belarus via “National airport of Minsk” border checkpoint and does not apply to individuals, taking direct flights from and/or to Russia. This is because the flights between Russia and Belarus are considered domestic and the border control at the Minsk airport is not exercised for them.

The list of 80 countries and information on the visa-free regime are available on the official website of the MFA of Belarus.